Midnight Geometry, Shape’s upcoming behemoth of a producer album, rallies practiced emcees from NY, Jersey and beyond to weave stories, speak truths and mouth off over balanced, deliberate scene work. Shape’s production spans decades of east coast hip hop, mixing gritty street beats and boom bap drums with cinematic world samples and funk loops. The cast of performers offer a range of raw perspectives and moods while the music guiding them builds momentum, riding and falling to meet each turn. Progressive rock and psychedelia blend into his sound, creating dynamic, epic compositions which feel grounded in the earthiness of storytelling.

The emcees featured throughout Midnight Geometry include the late Tame One, Teddy Faley, Fatboi Sharif, Duncecap, Lt Headtrip, GDP, Yung Daddy and many more. Shape has the ability to pull honesty from his collaborators, whether the truth is heart ache or pleasure, substance abuse or profitable peddling, confident reflections or existential crises. To build Midnight Geometry, Shape offered each accomplice a skeletal song, an incomplete composition. Only after his cohort contributed muscles and blood would Shape rework his nascent creation into a full body. The intricacies and dynamism of his production are as cinematic as the full 57 minute experience of Midnight Geometry, while the specificity of every song’s structure and mood allow for each track to stand alone, self-contained and palpable.

We often think of producers as directors but, while Shape toiled tirelessly on every moment of this epic LP, his presence is more of an observer in the end product, every arrangement a reaction properly and fully fit into the story-teller’s world.